“Bassmaster Classic Champion, David Dudley, can I help you?” 5 year old Dudley would answer the telephone. Not everyone knows what they were born to do when they are 5, 15, 25 or even 85, but David always knew what made his heart come alive. The science, the math, the art of what happens under the water captured his mind and heart as a small boy. The challenge to figure it out well enough to always be able to find and catch the fish whose world consumed his every thought, persistently gnawed at him like the answer to that riddle you know you can figure out if you just don’t give up too soon.

Football, basketball, and baseball, man verses man, year after year, fed and nurtured his competitive nature but nothing could keep his mind off of fishing. Man verses nature, seemed to hold a special appeal for him, as the hunt for anything in season would draw him out of bed in the morning before school. Other kids would set the alarm giving them just enough time to dress, eat, and run to the bus but while they hit the snooze button Dudley was already tracking deer or shooting doves.

He began fishing local tournaments with his father every weekend and as a teen would put on roofs to earn the entrée fees to enter on his own. His fishing would at times interfere with his other team sports and when he was forced to choose he found himself being kicked off the baseball team for skipping practice to fish a tournament, he made the final trade of his bat and glove for rod and reel without hesitation.

The road to follow your dreams is hard and narrow and requires sacrifice. The baseball team was not the only thing he loved that he had to say goodbye to along the way. It may seem cute at 5 that you want to be a fisherman for a career choice, but at 18 when all your friends are headed off to colleges and trade schools you’re not exactly looking so cute to others, especially to the parents of the girls you fall for along the way.

His early success was some consolation for the snickers and scorning of the doubters he encountered. At 18 he was the youngest ever to win a Bassmaster tournament and the youngest ever to qualify for the Bassmaster Classic. But at 19 God showed him a vision of something entirely impossible for him to accomplish alone and yet he knew that God would bring it be, as impossible as it was, just has He had brought him into the professional world of bass fishing.

He moved to the Outer Banks of NC to start a charter business when he wasn’t fishing tournaments and he kept on fishing. FLW came into existence and Dave jumped right into fishing both tours and running his business. His skills and confidence grew and soon he was not only booked for trips as much as he could possible work in North Carolina, but his consistent finishes near the top on tour built his reputation as a true contender. In 2001 hopping around with a broken ankle he took home second on Lake St Clair in MI. He signed with Castrol as a title sponsor that year which began a 10 year and still running relationship with this great company. Then in 2002 he took first place and the coveted prize of $700,000 at the Ranger M1, followed by winning the 2003 FLW Tour Championship for $500,000. He took a few more first place prizes and signed more sponsorship contracts on his way to becoming the 2008 FLW Angler of the Year, which is his proudest title yet. Then in 2009 he took home the UMF Championship belt to add to his collection of trophies.

Dudley, now 35, lives back in his home town of Lynchburg, VA with his wife of 8+ years and his 5 children who adore him. He holds on in faith to that impossible vision that God gave him at 19 years old and watches in joy and excitement as it has begun to unfold before him. Though it’s a little difficult to put into words what he saw was coming, the small beginnings are currently hatching out all over the 162 acres of land into which he has invested everything he has ever made. Hundreds of kids play on the ball fields, special needs children fish their heart out in the stocked pond, kids come alive on the horses, and families come together and make memories around the bonfires. And nearly everything is free! Fishing and Horse Camps are flooded with kids while even those fees are covered by generous sponsors for those whose families can’t afford to send them.

Dudley looks forward to another great year with Castrol and FLW and while the riddle of the happenings under the waters still captivate him and the instincts for figuring out the fish still guide him, his drive for the paycheck is fueled by the faces of not only his wife and children but the faces of all the children and families that find healing and life as they are ushered into the arms of God, at the place he calls home.

For more information on David Dudley go to www.daviddudley.com or can find him on facebook.

For more information on the place he calls home go to www.obicministries.org